You are just arguing for arguments sake.  I don't think you even believe what you're saying.  

You can lead a horse to water.

No

how is "I can't bring that movie I just bought to my friends home so we can watch it together” convenient?

how is "I don't have a high speed internet connection when I am on Vacation but I still want to relax with a film" convenient?

how is , "I am having internet connection issues so I can't do internet stuff so I might as well sit down and enjoy a film but I can't because the network is down and I can't stream it" convenient?

how is, "dang there is another 1TB drive that filled up and I need to go out and buy another one to add to my server and configure the array before I can DL that film I want to watch" convenient?

As for Blockbuster, I don't know I have not used a rental place in years. I agree "I want to watch a film” and putting on a coat and boots and hat and gloves and going out in a cold car and coming back a 1/2 hour later is not convenient. But going to my HT taking the film off the shelf and putting it in my player on the way to my seat is extremely convenient. Many of my films I bought during my lunch break, there are two stores right there where I have lunch, so that is convenient, other films I bought at stores when I was there for other reasons (love to brows films if they have them) so that is also extremely convenient and others I ordered on-line and they are shipped to my door (again convenient) so they are there when I get home

I have ~40 films on my unwatched shelf right now just waiting for me to watch them at my convenience. And this New Years my sister invited us to her cottage for 5 days and I threw a couple of dozen films in my bag that I thought we might feel like watching and that was convenient as well.


Also Blockbuster’s does mail rental now so you don’t need to go out


no he said the FCC said in 2020 people will have 100mbps, how is that today? Id I get frozen in time while typing this? BTW, he has 20mbps today and one of his client has 60mbps none of those are 100mbps


what is wrong with antennas? you know there is a forum on this site and probably every other site where people care about that care about AV talk about it because OTA offers higher quality than cable or Sat.

On the other hand if I can't see the film I want when and where I want how is that a good thing when I can do that now?


You do know that Netflix and Blockbuster will mail you BD (or DVD) rentals and they come to your door? But why should anyone else care if you care or not if something is unwatchable, no one said you should stop overpaying for Vudu's crap, the issue is that you can't grasp that some people do care for what they watch.

not if you do it right, the first hours after you wake up you play games (console) until everyone is awake, and you decide what to do, in the evening (after the camp fire in the summer) you go indoors and you watch films and relax. Yes during the day you might go hiking or swimming or boating or skiing or skating or build a fort, and there are always fun jobs such as chopping wood and stuff, but you also need some fun down time like playing games and watching films especially if the weather is bad.

I looked online, and all the items I could find from anyone without an Ax to Grind, are stating that this is a very small percentage of disks.

So, Let's examine personal experience. If this really is a "50-50" bet." as you state, then even looking at a small sample size should reveal a great many bad disks. My experience is a CD collection of about 1200 disks. About 400 of those were bought before 1990. So that would give me a collection of 400 disks with an age of 22 years or more, with the remainder bought at a rougly equal rate. I have lost about 3 disks to damage during moving (moving companies are Satan's spawn!) I have scratched several, and brought those back by polishing. I have lost zero disks to "rot". I'll leave it as an exercise to the student, that if the chance of a defect is truly "50-50", assuming a normal distribution, to a confidence interval of 95%, where I and the other people I know lie on this curve.

Please people, step in, and tell Stamp how many of you have experienced the 50-50 chance of losing a CD to rot!

You're just grasping at straws Stamp.

As far as what the data rates will be like in the US in ten years:


The communications revolution, and the internet have been brought about by revolutionary change, not evolution, so looking at what has happened in the last 10 years won't tell us what is possible in the next 10.  The truth, is that the majority of broadband internet to homes is ADSL via the copper pair from the phone company.  Replacing that infrastructure is not inexpensive, and consumers seem to be stuck on about $40/month for broadband access.  Rates have gone up as the providers have squeezed increases out of the existing infrastructure.  The truth, is that we are nearly at the end of our ability to squeeze more out of the copper pairs.  Doing more, means digging trenches, or putting fiber on poles.

Let us look at the Presidents plan, the National Broadband Plan.  I don't think they will achieve it, but It barely meets the ability for a majority to be able to stream content.

By 2020, the goal is for 100 million households to have access to 100 Mbit/s service.   According to the plan, 200 million people had broadband in 2009, nationwide the average connection speed was 3.9 Mbit/s, up from 8 million in 2000. But 14 million had no access whatsoever to broadband.

So, in 2020 100 million households should have 100Mbps given the current administrations plan.  Note that at the current rate of growth, we will have over 153 million households extrapolated from the current census.  So, that would give a majority that have speeds that make it possible, but this is based upon a government plan, and assume funding occurs, and assume the majority find prices for service and content that is attractive.

Personally, I think it will take much longer.  Infrastructure change as drastic and widespread as this takes a long time.  What is going to make the providers want to spend the money to put this capability in place, for the same amount of money we spend today?  The presidents plan examines those issues and just sort of shrugs it's head, and hopes to sell enough spectrum to cover the costs, but isn't at all assured it will do so.  Go ahead and read the plan, it reads more like a pipe dream to me!  But I'm sure you will take this as a sign that all is good, and it will happen.

Perhaps we should examine earlier predictions by Stamp.

[Link: remotecentral.com]

You still think Android will not be in either the #1 or #2 spot as determined by Gartner Group, as of October?  If it's going to fall to #3, it better start tanking real soon, and real fast, because most contracts are 2 years!

For those that are arguing for being able to stream you really need to get out more. This is going to sound mean but it's you people that are the problem with this country. If you can't see it from your window then it doesn't exist. I have traveled all over the country and to many places in this world. I have have first hand experience that high speed internet access is not as widely available as some of you think. The numbers that the government post lie, imagine that. The government says that I have access to broadband internet speeds. If they mean the Verizon Wireless 3G that drops in and out all the time then sure I have it. Not only that but Verizon has data caps that if you tried to stream 1080p movies then you're going to go over quick. But if they mean usable high speed internet then they are crazy. I live 90 miles from Washington DC, not in a third world country. I have A TON of clients that don't have broadband available, including some within 25 miles of Washington DC.

I'm certainly not some fuddy duddy shaking my fist at progress. Sorry I'm a realist that doesn't have the pleasure of living in some fairy tale world. I live in the real world and deal with real world issues. I also hate to be wrong so I make sure that I'm right before I open my mouth. And in case any of you are interested here's a nice map from the government that'll show you how great broadband coverage is. [Link: broadbandmap.gov]

This is just another example of big business buying government to protect their antiquated business model.

I have 1000 or so DVD's. This is an unmanageable collection. It can't be stored in an accessible location. It's physically too large. Finding a movie is an exercise in futility. Typing up movie lists books, updating them (later at least software like DVD collector helped with that). Searching the list, digging through bins of DVD's in a closet.... Tried disc binders as well...

The ONLY way it's manageable is through a media server with the disks archived on a RAID. It is the only way to select a movie without spending more time finding the movie than watching it. It's the only way to do it in a small physical space.

I have enjoyed more of my movies (and rediscovered ones I forgot about) by this system.

I don't care about streaming the movies to every device I own with a CPU. I just care about finding and watching a movie i own on my living room TV that doesn't take p90x and an entire day off to accomplish.

1000 DVDs in cases in bins in climate controlled storage never to be scratched, misplaced or lost.

Rather than waste my time quoting the same old nonsense for each of you with your heads in the sand...

Digital file does not equal streaming. You can CURRENTLY as in TODAY download high quality content. This is not some futuristic idea that may or may not happen. It exists TODAY here on planet earth. So please stop pretending that your dialup service is evidence that it does not exist.

Broadband reach and speed will continue to grow. Anyone who thinks otherwise is mistaken. I wont waste my time telling you why you are mistaken because it would be a waste of time. Where have you been for the last ten years? Have you been paying attention? Do you not remember your dial up modem? Do you think that technology will just stop?

Physical media is old technology. It will be forgotten about by the masses and coveted by the geeks. They can get together with their LPs and CRT projectors and stroke each other off to the sounds of their tube amps and laugh at the "idiots". Anthony can carry his disc to his friends house. I will take my cell phone and carry my entire media collection wherever i go.

How many did you find that have had hard drive crashes? How many of those have heard of SSD or RAID?


How many hard drive crashes have you had?


Please pay attention and read the threads before responding. You and Anthony need a class or 12 in reading and comprehension.

You point to a plastic disc as a backup solution. I bet i can destroy your disc before you can destroy my hard drive.


I think you are.



Thanks for proving my point. You stated that the last 10 years wont predict the next 10 years so would you people please stop assuming that technology will stop in its tracks. You are all starting to sound mentally ill.


Thats your opinion and so far you have a terrible track record.


Those are guys like Anthony who carry DVD's to their friends houses so it doesnt matter for them.


Read the comment about about your terrible track record.


Perhaps we should. The iPhone continues to lead the market for the high end phones. The low end free garbage phone end of the market is loaded with an unstable unusable distro of android.

So instead of vanishing completely android has replaced the "free because i cant get a real phone" market. Their high end phones continue to disappoint the masses.


I think that android has become the "other" phone OS. iPhone still leads the market. Their 100 billion in cash is a good indicator of this fact. This is the first full year that android has had to compete with the iPhone at more than 1 carrier. There is a free iPhone available now and 1 at $99. Save this link until after Q4 data has been reported for 2012 and lets see how the unpolished clone OS is doing then.


Most recent of dozens of articles that discuss the last 3 quarters. Just wait until the next 4 are reported. [Link: huffingtonpost.com]

Anythony does this often. He reads a sentence or two from the guy who responded to you and then writes for hours about something else. Just quote him and paste stuff from a random wikipedia article. He will continue to respond for a while and eventually forget the link to the thread.

double post

I knew a discussion with Stamp was not possible. He continues to simply ignore the BS he spouts, and expects me to figure out what he means, rather than what he types. I'm done trying to have a discussion with a tree.

It is you who ignores fact and spouts nonsense. This thread will not miss you.

I own quite a few DVDs but only about 8 Bluray Discs. In a centralized system local players have all sorts of issues, not the least is where to put it if you don't have local cabinets. I am not sure on the gounds the court made its decison but given that Kaleidescape attempted to do the right thing and files are the only legetimate solution for this industry I'm not sure what is to be done save going illegal since the odds are the SC will not bother with this case, Congress is too corrupt to legislate fair use, and industry is not likely to offer exemptions till they come up with a solution they all can market--if then.

What I believe is that bandwidth and quality be damned. AppleTV and steaming media exist and the quality from existing solutions--BD player or Vudu-- is more than exceptable. We all paid for the electrification of rural, Red State America--or do you think privcate enterprise brouht electricity to sparsely populated areas? I have no problem letting Red States die horrible deaths so I could care less if they are left out of the new media paradigms. Maybe without TV they will discover what books do for the imagination. If existing solutions work and the quality is more than acceptable does it matter if a few rural areas are left out? Does it matter if quality is not as good as the physical media?
Therefore I'm not sure if our friend from Texas or Anthony are correct. From the point of view of marketers these areas don't matter. We already live in an age with value solutions or do you think your iPhone and Apple headphones are an audiophile solution?

The BCS game with Alabama playing LSU drew a national audience of 4.5. That is sufficient to end national coverage of BCS championship if it continued to draw those ratings. True, last year's BCS with a much more interesting Auburn team playing Oregon drew 18 share. Advertisers and content providers want eyeballs. Rural, Red State areas are not going to provide eyeballs. Hey, this is a market system. If you live in the wrong state it's your tough luck. Conservatism in action.

I think a lot of that had to do with this being a rematch of a boring game. Had it been LSU vs. Oklahoma St., I think the ratings would have been higher. That's still Red State vs. Red State. :)

And as scary as it sounds to me, I somewhat agree with you on the idea that the states and its people should fund broadband expansion. Let the market work. Someone out here in fly-over country will get it done without any government help. It may take a bit longer, but we will get it done.

I do disagree somewhat with your notion of the population centers paying for the electrification of rural America. After all, you still want our coal and grain. No electricity, no heat or food for you.